Patient Stories Articles
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Read our latest stories on the people and scientific innovations making a difference in patients’ lives.
'Science Has Kept Me Here': How Biomarker Research is Shaping the Future of Cancer Care
Debbie Pickworth developed a cough she couldn’t shake after a bout with bronchitis. She went to see her doctor multiple times, explaining that she was struggling to breathe, but nothing seemed to help.Then, tests revealed the unthinkable: Debbie had lung cancer. She was 43 years old.Lung cancer was nothing new to Debbie’s family. Just 16 years earlier, her mother died from the same disease; her grandmother also died from lung cancer. Now, Debbie was afraid she was on the same path. She thought...
How One Woman with Multiple Myeloma Found Strength—and Gratitude—in Adversity
September’s Blood Cancer Awareness Month is a time to raise awareness of hematologic cancers and share the stories of those living with the diseaseIn 2017, Lynce Lucas hadn’t been feeling well for several months and was dealing with some fractured ribs. But when she woke up one morning struggling with the ability to walk, she knew something more was wrong.Lynce was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which at the time she didn’t know much about. “They told me that multiple myeloma was cancer, it...
Living with Colon Cancer: A Pfizer Colleague’s Story
Almost all of us have been impacted by cancer in some way, even those of us who work at a company dedicated to the fight against it. We at Pfizer are not immune, and we are dedicated to helping share the stories of those who have faced the terrible disease. Especially when they are a part of our family.Lily Hickey works as a People Experience Lead for Commercial Oncology at Pfizer, and less than a year after giving birth, she felt a pain in her side that that she initially wrote off as...
Patrick Dempsey, Pfizer and the American Cancer Society Team Up to “Change the Odds” Against Cancer
For award-winning actor and cancer community advocate Patrick Dempsey, working to help make sure everyone has the same opportunity to prevent, detect and treat cancer is deeply personal. Being by his mother’s side during her 17-year journey with ovarian cancer, Patrick experienced the profound impact that a cancer diagnosis can have on both a patient and their family. It was this experience that led him to create The Dempsey Center, a non-profit which offers a space where people navigating...
The Butterfly Club: Stories of Volunteers that Colleagues with Cancer Can Lean On
When Nikki Shaffer was diagnosed with breast cancer at 35, she had so many questions. How should she tell her three young children about it? Should she keep working? Would she see her kids grow up?That was in 2009. As Shaffer went through treatment, a non-profit connected her with other cancer survivors, but she didn’t click with anyone. “They connected me to people who were in their 50s when they were diagnosed, and their questions and their concerns were not the same as mine,” says Shaffer...
Behind the Migraine: Pfizer Colleagues Share Their Stories
We’ve all heard it before: “Migraine is more than just a headache.” But is it really understood? Some talk about the burden of migraine—the blur of pain, vice-like pressure, nausea, insomnia, and even vertigo—but most don’t. Migraine is a disabling neurological disease with different symptoms and treatment approaches compared to other headache disorders. An estimated 40 million people in the United States and more than 1 billion people around the world experience migraine attacks.1,2 So, at...
Race Against Resistance: Pfizer takes on AMR
A new film produced for Pfizer by BBC StoryWorks Commercial Productions puts the spotlight on the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a health crisis with global, and personal, impact. "Race Against Resistance” explores how the rise of antibiotic resistance, the process by which bacteria adapt and mutate to avoid the very drugs designed to kill them, is threatening to undo almost 100 years of progress in medicine. “Race Against Resistance” shows what’s being done to tackle this global...
Lady Gaga on Living With Migraine
If migraine attacks have impacted your ability to simply go about your day, spend time with your family and friends, or do your job, then you and Academy Award®, Golden Globe® Award and 13-time Grammy® Award-winning actress and philanthropist have a lot in common.Lady Gaga recently opened up to Pfizer.com about how migraines have affected her life.“My experience with migraines was debilitating. I would be in bed for days with tremendous pain in my head, behind my eyes, and all throughout my face...
Equitable Access to Multiple Myeloma Treatments Can Help Close the Survival Gap
Jennifer Flowers thought her pain and fatigue were a side effect of working out. Perhaps she’d pushed herself too hard or strained a muscle. But the pain persisted, so she scheduled an appointment with her doctor. Her diagnosis—multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer—was unexpected. “I was stunned,” Flowers says. “I’m a health-conscious professional and was exercising multiple times a week.” Her first thought, Flowers says, was “How long do I have to live?” Medical Innovations Extend...
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